Forsythe

FreeSpace: Expansion

This was getting nowhere, and Astra was just about to take off her suit's arms and reach out to prod inside the Alien's brain, but her comm-suite came to life: "Commander, the 'Hexus has just dropped out of the jump node." Damn, we made that ship quick! Astra quickly scanned for the ship, and located it's Admiral stirring a moderate mindspace echo. Seeing no need to delay the inevitable, she offered a guiding link for a jump into the room. IT would appear the Admiralty had sent their diplomat to take over, or to keep an eye on her, most likely both.

After signaling with a raised open palm for the Aliens that something was about to happen, the Narix would be treated to a most likely unexpected sight. The Faira in front of them would seem to light up in a storm of white and red, a face of concentration on her face. And then, in a storm of red and white, just like the Curious before, a single Faira would arrive via FTL right into the room.

Turning to address the Commander first, Libra and Astra got the mandatory salutes out of the way, before the Admiral's attention would turn to the guests. "Well well, it is very nice to see you, gentlemen. If you'd please, this way." she said, indicating the door further into the ship.

A week later

Faira Fleetnet News

First contact
The Vanguard fleet has reported from the system beyond Exodus with stunning news: Only two systems from home, and already we have made first contact with another space faring species. The scientists refuse to speculate on whether this is a coincidence, or whether the universe is teeming with intelligent life. The EFG Curious and her battlegroup have made contact with the NSS Lanatos of the new species calling themselves Narix. While fundamentally different in biology, the Narix seem to represent the same evolutionary path, so much so that leaves the Scientists baffled as to the chaotic nature of evolution theory.

Progress on negotiations
Admiral Libra and the Faira'Hexus have been dispatched to the new system, designated Opportunity, along with a diplomatic vessel of the Narix to continue negotiations. A draft of a non-aggression treaty has been submitted to both sides for review, and the ambassadors are in debates on further cooperation between our two peoples. It seems like our suggestion of trading processed resources for construction time in the Narix shipyards may just fall through.

FreeSpace: Expansion

Situation: Salvaged. Pheew. Libra would have had my Antennae if I caused a war. It would be a shameful waste to lay waste to a species… Astra thought, before dismissing the issue without further thought. Alternate realities in the multiverse bore no need of thought until they could travel to them. Astra allowed herself a toothy grin as two of the alien soldiers seemed utterly gobsmacked whens he displayed a rudimentary knowledge of their language after all of ten minutes of knowing the species existed in the universe. She was even more pleased with herself when the leader put the device back on.

She could only guess at what was being said, but it probably ranged from profanities to scolding to what seemed like an introduction, although she had no way of knowing what words were his name, if they used names. Instead, she chose to show him how to properly do this. “Astra.” she said, pointing to herself. One word, no room for misinterpretation. Pointing to the insignia on her chest, she referred to her rank: “Commander.”

Summoning the hologram again, she displayed a picture of several of her species: “Faira.” Then switching the image to the tactical interface form the C&C as it displayed the two ships in orbit of the planet, she pointed to the ship they were standing on: “Curious.”

FreeSpace: Expansion

Astra was not amused. No trust. Primitives. she thought, recalling the alphabet she managed to learn, as well as the few associations that could help her explain. Drawing with her finger into the air, orange trail was left where it was as she used an illustration program to convey what she needed to say. In front of her, three words were floating, written is a somewhat broken alien language, but legible if one counted what a child after one year of school might write.

Machine
Dictionary
Factory

The downside of this bit of linguistic aid was that one could only learn associations of what could be portrayed in a picture and objectively given unanimous association. Which left mostly nouns, hence why Astra tried to use the best ones to convey that the device was made to aid in translating a language. She had her doubts whether it would work, but she figured reaching out with her hands to touch the alien being and scour it’s brain for information was a bad idea.

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EFG Curious; cargo bay

As the gravity took its hold of her, Astra hummed with satisfaction. Progress was slow, but steady. It seemed like the Aliens wouldn’t mind if the gravity went even higher, making her note that they were probably stronger, although with the suits it was anyone’s guess. It also made her want to see their homeworld one day. Not to settle in, not if she wanted to exercise for the rest of her infinite life, but...

She was delighted when the alien put her device on its ear. Now they could move forward. The device summoned a screen in front of the alien, which quickly flashed images in front of its eyes. The images were switching too quickly for the Primarch to consciously notice what any of them were, but it was enough for his brain to generate an impulse Astra could associate with a word. And like that, she learned.

Well, learned to ‘listen’, so to speak. It would still take more time for them to understand each other’s languages completely, but for now, Astra could make an educated guess at what the alien was saying, and the more of the language she heard spoken, the easier it would be to associate sounds with nervous impulses.

The basic set of images was done in little under a minute, the screen shutting down for now.

FreeSpace: Expansion

Ah! Progress! Astra thought as the alien seemed to respond in verbal communication of it's own. Unknown to them, Astra's antennae were reading the changes in their bioelectric field, associating impulses with what was either said or perceived, making baby steps to learning the language. Of course, a slightly more invasive reading would help tremendously, but she would not do that just yet. she made it a note of interest that most of the changes in the field were happening around the top of their head. The military part of her made it a note to hit just there if it came to a fight - not only would the visor be the weak spot on the suit, but it seemed to be the center of cognitive capacities.

Baring her teeth in an amused reflex, Astra called up another control screen - this one with what passed for a line of text in a jagged looking alphabet and a stylized knob beneath it. Astra signalized a turning motion with her finger, before touching the holoscreen in the corner and flinging it, making it drift through the space between them and come to stop in front of the alien. The know only went as high as the Faira standard gravity, but she gave the alien the choice of how large a portion of it they would subject themselves to. That way it was safe for both parties.

The language the alien used sounded to the Faira like the creaking of a hinge that has been particularly overlooked by the maintenance crews. Far be it form pleasantly sounding, at least she could distinguish where the gaps between individual words were. Who was she kidding, this would take a team of linguists form both sides to make any progress. Opening one of the compartments on her suit, she pulled out a device that looked like it was made out of the same stuff her antennae were, only with a printed circuit pattern on it rather than pigment rings. "A gift." she said, making a circling gesture around where the Narix ear would be.

FreeSpace: Expansion

It seemed like the aliens were content with pressurizing the room. Good to know. Although they didn’t seem to understand the concept of an incorporeal button. Oh well, Astra nodded her head before even realizing the alien would not know what it meant, and tapped the control herself. The iris door on the airlock slid into close, and air rushed into the room from the vents.

As it did so, Astra turned her gaze to the alien craft, running it through her suit’s sensor suite. She was not amused when she found several more alien-shaped signatures inside, but then her curiosity got the better of her as one of the aliens rendered it’s visor transparent.

The being was strange to say the least - not just the shape of its face, but also the fact that it was brightly colored compared to what the Faira looked like, although it didn't have that many or any facial markings really. What she found mesmerizing were the small bits of skin occasional folding over the eyes. What on the world could possibly be the purpose of those?

Figuring out the aliens were harmless enough even though they brought a two squadworths of soldiers, she returned the gesture, and unsealed her own helmet, taking it off. “Hello.” she said, wondering whether the aliens communicated using acoustic signals or something else.

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EFG Curious; cargo bay

Astra had nearly freaked out when she saw the beings that emerged from the shuttle, bearing what she would consider heavy arms. Her hands curled into fists and her VR switched to combat mode, but she kept enough presence not to move an inch otherwise, let alone deploy her weapons. As it turned out, that was a wise decision, as soon after what she assumed was checking their safety, the beings seemed to relax, and one of them approached her with open palms. Astra hoped that was a gesture of being non threatening - she couldn't quite decide, as some Faira Marines had palm-mounted plasma projectors to fight at close range.

The being looked alien, yet strangely similar, walking on two legs and with a set of two arms and one head - it seemed that sentient evolution preferred such a shape. This one was even almost as tall as herself, giving her a hint on what gravity she could expect the beings to take. The Faira commander decided not to reciprocate the gesture, as the shield projectors in the palms of her own suit might spook the visitors. Instead, she slowly raised her arm, straightened out and bumped it against her chest in a salute, before looking where she assumed the being’s eyes - should it have any - would be.

Then she dropped her arm slightly and waved it in front of herself. A hologram appeared, showing the cargo bay, the animation of the airlock closing and vents blasting in the atmosphere, alongside of visual representation of the molecules of oxygen and nitrogen down to the number of protons, neutrons and electrons, three and seven of each respectively to give them an idea of the atmosphere composition. Underneath all of that was a stylized button, which Astra left unpressed, but pointed at - as if to say ‘You decide’.

It was a slight gamble in the manner that perhaps their science explained the composition of an atom differently, but she and the boffins believed that there was no better universal language than the building blocks of the universe.

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EFG Curious; cargo bay

“Commander! Are you certain this is wise?” The XO asked as she followed Astra to her quarters where the commander was putting on her custom designed heavy exo suit. She was adamant at making the contact herself. Her curiosity demanded satisfaction. That, and her abilities might just allow her to understand the aliens without having to learn their method of communication - or so she and few other boffins theorized.

“It’s wiser than what they are doing - they took the gamble of getting into our ship, despite seeing just how quickly we can reposition. For what they know, this is a trap and we want to capture them. But considering nobody fired a round yet, I’m rather hopeful. In any case, we’ll need to start up an information exchange manually, and that requires a meeting of people, not destroyers.” Astra explained, sealing the helmet over her head and turning her visor opaque. “Have a security team ready behind the door, and be prepared to raise the shield and jump out on moments notice.”

With that, Astra stepped into the cargo bay and shut the door behind her, just as the alien shuttle poked its rear through the tight fit of the airlock. She wondered at the sight - it looked utilitarian, not as much as a Faira craft would, but close enough - but it also spotted what she thought were aerofoils. It would appear these people were still blessed with a planet to call their own, and it also told her that they most likely required atmosphere for some of their biological functions. Until she knew though, Astra left the cargo bay evacuated and the gravity on zero.

ED Explorer; Other side of the Exodus-Unknown jump node

“They are doing what?” the Admiral boomed as soon as the message was relayed to her. Stars damn it Astra, you’re as bad a talker as I am, could you not have sent anyone else to make the contact? “Spool up the drive, but do not jump through without a request form the other side. If we spooked the aliens, they might just open fire. And somebody message Faira’Hexus to haul ass and get to the node!” Summoning one of the viewing holograms, she pulled the image of the alien ship, trying to guess at it'S capabilities, and whether something bigger could be expected from these people.

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EFG Curious
“They’ve seen us. But there isn’t much going on. That’s good, correct?” the Oracle asked, and Astra nodded. “Better than getting pummeled by those weapons. They certainly didn’t spare any resources on those, the ship looks like a pincushion, even if the caliber isn’t as large as ours. What other readings are we getting?”

“About as much electromagnetic radiation as could be expected. There is a radio spectrum with repeating regularity. It could be an attempt to communicate, or just an IFF beacon.” the Oracle notified.

“On display.” Astra ordered. The hologram shifted from the ship to display the radio wave the unknown was sending. “The period on the signal is far too large to be an IFF unless they are using some monster coding or convoluted language. I think it should be a message, but how do we read it? Even assuming we use same technical base we would still need the file system to know what to do with the ones and zeros.” Astra frowned. No other choice, we’ll have to see face to face.

“Drop the shield, but keep the generators powered. Decelerate and take uson an approach orbit, nice elliptical and pulse the reactor vents in regular pattern, I want them to know that we want them to know what we’re doing. Shut down all external lights save for the docking port navigation, and leave the airlock open. Let’s see if they get the invitation - it looks like their ship has hangar bays, hopefully they thought to pack a shuttle along. Send a message to the Explorer and ‘Hexus about what is going on, we’ll need Admiral Libra sooner than we thought.”

Astra swapped the display back to the alien ship, expanded the view to the planet’s orbit and watched as the Curious approached it, ready to give orders if the unknown turned hostile.

FreeSpace: Expansion

EFG Curious

“Ah!” The Oracle hissed, leaning forward from the reclined position in her chair and massaging the temples of her head. “Commander! Massive Mindspace echo, consistent with our own intersystem jump signature. I’m marking the position to the navigation computer. You may want to try yourself, we may have a contact.” the Oracle explained quickly, inputting the coordinates to the ships’ database.

Astra looked at it curiously. “I think I will. If nothing else, it could be another jump node. We’ll see.” Leaning back in her own chair, Astra spread around her own senses.

Reading Mindspace echoes was a strange feeling of a mysterious art. Not many Faira could do this, for the information overload was dangerous even to a species of their intelligence. As Astra expanded her reach, she could detect the first planet, then the second, then the massive calmness the two brown dwarves created in Mindspace that was otherwise a violent storm.

Calmness, that was until a turbulence cut through her mind like needles. “Ah! FTL jump indeed, not through Mindspace but similar enough to leave a massive echo. It seems they want to have a closer look at us.” Astra said, drumming her fingers. What to do? Focusing ever closer, she willed the rest of the system out of her mind, centering her attention on the contact closest to them. It was hard to read the shape form a mindspace echo alone, even for an Ascendant, but she could make a guess at the ship’s mass.

“If it’s constructed out of common materials, it could be as big as the Curious, give or take ten percent. I don’t feel like sending the smaller ships to look, but it shouldn’t be anything we need the Admiral’s ship for just yet. Let us see how they like company. I’m jumping us on the same orbit as them, 90° off their phase so we could hide easily enough behind the planet if need be. Full power to engines and shield for now. Leave the weapons cold.”

Once her crew confirmed her orders, Astra’s mind withdrawn and focused oh the ship alone. Red wisps started to gather on the hull, slowly joining and growing into sparks, and then bolts, until what looked like red lightning storm surrounded the entire ship. And then, the Curious vanished in a flash of white light.

The planet

Emerging form the jump, Astra leaded forward to see the holographic display of the other ship gathered by the cameras on the outside of the hull. “Well hello there! Wouldn’t I like a peek under your armor!” she said, admiring the shape. “Any reaction from the unknown?” she asked, wondering if what was going through her own head was also happening to the commander of the other ship. Are you here to attack me? How do I make you see I come in peace?